DPS Lotus 120 Spoon Skis

By the numbers, the backcountry is booming. Gear sales continue to spike, and if you’ve been out there, you’ve probably noticed it’s gotten busier. And why not? The backcountry is where the fluffy stuff is, and brands

DPS took its deeply rockered Lotus 120—which sports a long pintail, tapered tip, and just a smidge of sidecut underfoot—and added a convex base to the shovel of the ski. That’s right, the base is actually spoon shaped in the front third. The result is a new level of powder-surfing fun. It’s virtually impossible to hook your tips in a powder turn, and it’s easier than ever to aggressively slide, dump speed, and change turn radius mid-arc. It’s a specialty ski for untracked powder that, thanks to a stiff tail and flat camber, can hold a respectable edge on firm snow, too. And with DPS’s new Pure3 carbon construction, it’s more dampening than previous carbon skis we’ve tested but still light enough to tour all day. 140/122/126; 7.9 lbs.